Corona, Fontana, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga, Riverside, San Bernardino, Temecula, and Victorville.

2010 continues to be a year with a high number of chapter 7 bankruptcies for the Inland Empire.  Bankruptcy attorneys in the Inland Empire have felt the increase as their workloads have increased, and as both consumers and small businesses flood their offices for help in filing bankruptcy.

According to research done by a leading bankruptcy law firm in the area, the cities with the most Chapter 7 bankruptcies in Riverside County and San Bernardino County for March 2010 are familiar ones to those who have been following each month’s chapter 7 bankruptcy filings:

Corona, Fontana, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga, Riverside, San Bernardino, Temecula, and Victorville.

Bankruptcy attorneys in the Inland Empire are also noticing a high number of filings from bankruptcy debtors residing in Chino, Chino Hills, Hemet, Hesperia, and Rialto.

According to research done by a leading bankruptcy law firm in the area, the cities with the most Chapter 7 bankruptcies in Riverside County and San Bernardino County for February 2010 are familiar ones to those who have been following each month’s chapter 7 bankruptcy filings:

Corona, Fontana, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga, Riverside, San Bernardino, Temecula, and Victorville.

Bankruptcy attorneys in the Inland Empire are also noticing a high number of filings from bankruptcy debtors residing in Hemet, Hesperia, and Indio.

“The takeover battle for mall owner General Growth Properties Inc. reached a boiling point Wednesday as General Growth unveiled a deal with Canadian property investor Brookfield Asset Management Inc. even as Australian mall owner Westfield Group considered entering the fray.

Westfield, which owns 119 malls in the U.S., Australia and Britain, signed a nondisclosure agreement this week to begin discussions with General Growth about a possible offer, people familiar with the matter said.

Westfield has $8 billion of borrowing capacity on hand, and is thus far acting alone, these people said.

As Westfield deliberated, General Growth laid out a plan …”

General Growth Properties owns Galleria at Tyler in Riverside, Moreno Valley Mall, and Redlands Mall in the Inland area. A bankruptcy judge will consider all  options for the hearing set for March 3.

Follow news about General Growth Properties at the Curtis Law Group Bankruptcy Blog.

According to research done by Curtis Law Group, the top ten cities with the most Chapter 7 bankruptcies in Riverside County and San Bernardino County for January 2010 are as follows:

Corona, Fontana, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga, Riverside, San Bernardino, Temecula, and Victorville.

Bankruptcy attorneys in the Inland Empire are also noticing a high number of filings from bankruptcy debtors residing in Chino, Hemet, and Hesperia.

“General Growth Properties Inc. said Wednesday lenders have agreed to restructure about $9.7 billion in debt under a plan that will allow 92 of its properties to emerge from bankruptcy protection by the end of the year. The nation’s second-largest mall operator will pay off loans that cover regional shopping centers, offices, community centers and related subsidiaries. The plan will allow the real estate investment trust to retain ownership of the properties, including the Ala Moana Center in Honolulu and the Harborplace & The Gallery in Baltimore.

“Chapter 7 bankruptcies filed by residents of Riverside County and San Bernardino County are filed in the Riverside Bankruptcy Courthouse.  Data from that court points to the following ten cities as having the highest number of Chapter 7 bankruptcies for residents of those counties for October 2009:

Corona, Fontana, Hemet, Hesperia, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga, Riverside, and San Bernardino.”

The cities with the most Chapter 7 bankruptcies in Riverside County and San Bernardino County for September did not change from the top-ten in August:

Corona, Fontana, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga, Riverside, San Bernardino, Temecula, and Victorville.

Bankruptcy attorneys in the Inland Empire are also noticing a high number of filings from bankruptcy debtors residing in Chino, Chino Hills, Hemet, Hesperia, and Lake Elsinore.

Corona, Fontana, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga, Riverside, San Bernardino, Temecula, and Victorville.

Bankruptcy attorneys from Riverside and San Bernardino County are also witnessing a high number of filings from debtors residing in Chino, Chino Hills, Hemet, and Hesperia.

From the Press-Enterprise, online:

“The Riverside Golf Club closed for good Wednesday, still owing the city more than $300,000 and holding thousands more belonging to a couple who had poured their life savings into a wedding they had planned there for Saturday.

The closure of the club, at least a half-century old, also sent other patrons scrambling to find alternate links to play and conference rooms to meet in.

Howsmith Corporation, which leases the property from Riverside Public Utilities, has been in arrears since November 2006 and owes $334,000, said City Councilman Mike Gardner, whose Ward 1 includes the club. “I’m surprised,” he said. “I had no idea this was coming.”

Howsmith filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Aug. 14, according to the bankruptcy document. A Web site lists Jacklyn Smith as the president of the Riverside company founded in 1979. No one answered at the phone number listed at the same address as the Riverside Golf Club.

Wednesday, John Lee Brown and Dimitra Kelly stood outside the locked gates of the parking lot of the shuttered clubhouse and banquet hall at 1011 N. Orange St.

They’d invited 100 guests to their wedding Saturday.

“This is a tragedy,” said Kelly, 40, who said they’d sunk $8,000 into the kaput celebration. “We had our rehearsal dinner there last Friday. They just faxed me the seating arrangement yesterday.”

Christopher R. Barclay, a trustee for Howsmith Corporation, was on the premises Wednesday. He refused to comment and ordered a reporter to leave. Rancho Cucamonga-based Dennis Baranowski, the corporation’s attorney, could not be reached.

“It’s a shame it’s closing,” said Jerry Seinturier, 56, who remembers the golf course from the 1950s. He plays in the golf league at Bourns Inc. where he works, but learned Wednesday morning that their evening round and banquet had been canceled. The greens had withered to browns over the past two years, he said, but the price was right: $10 for walkers, $15 for riders. “I have no idea where we’ll play now,” Seinturier said.

That leaves only one other 18-hole municipal golf course in Riverside, Sky Links at Van Buren Boulevard. The other city-owned course, at Fairmount Park, is nine holes.

Ken Truelock was shocked to learn that the golf clubhouse was closed for Wednesday’s noon meeting of the Magnolia Center Exchange Club, a service group. “We had a board meeting here yesterday,” he said. “I’m disappointed.”

But Kelly and Brown, who’ve been together eight years and have four children, were crushed. They paid the $837 balance several days ago on the $3,000 owed for the rental hall and appetizers.

Plus, they’ve shelled out another $5,000 for the disc jockey, photographer, flowers, minister, decorations, wedding gown, tuxedo and bridesmaids’ jewelry.

Kelly and Brown said Barclay told them to file a claim.

“We’re depleted,” said Kelly, tears running down her cheeks. “I’m extremely upset and embarrassed. We’ve got all this out-of-state family coming.”